Welcoming in the New Year

Tetsuo Yamakawa

President
The ITU Association of JapanW

ishing Everyone a Very Happy New Year!
As we look back on 2021, we can see thatthe number of COVID-19 cases in Japan began
to drop from early autumn, bringing some relief to society. From
here on, we must keep a close watch on social trends, but wecan assume that the “with-corona” lifestyle brought on by thewidespread use of teleworking, online meetings, and webinars
will continue thanks to the distinctive features of these formats. I
expect 2022 to be an outstanding year filled with new trends andlively activities using information and communications technology(ICT).
Looking back at last year’s International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) and Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) meetingsand events that the ITU Association of Japan (ITU-AJ) wasinvolved in, many were postponed or held online.
At ITU-AJ, we held the 50th Anniversary Ceremony of The
ITU Association of Japan in an online format on September 1,2021. This ceremony included the presentation of various awards.
Mr. Yoshio Utsumi was presented with the MIC Minister’sAward and ITU-AJ 50th Anniversary Honor Award, and Dr.
Yasuhiko Ito, Dr. Akira Hashimoto, and Mr. Makoto Miura
were presented with the MIC Minister’s Award and ITU-AJ
50th Anniversary Special Award. In addition, 11 individuals werepresented with the ITU- AJ 50th Anniversary Commemorative
Award and 3 individuals were presented with the ITU-AJ Special
Achievement Award. I extend my congratulations to all award
winners! Then, in the second half of the ceremony, we held an
online panel discussion with Mr. Houlin Zhao, Secretary-Generalof ITU, Mr. Masanori Kondo, Secretary General of Asia-PacificTelecommunity, and Mr. Yasuo Tawara, Director-General of
Global Strategy Bureau, MIC.
Continuing on, “Celebration of World Telecommunication
and Information Society Day” postponed from May was held
on November 30, 2021 at the Keio Plaza Hotel and distributed
online. At this event, Mr. Yoichi Maeda (Telecommunication
Technology Committee), who has long been involved ininternational standardization activities at ITU and APT, waspresented with the MIC Minister’s Award, and the Fight against
COVID-19 using Fugaku: Droplet Simulation Project Team
(representative researcher: Makoto Tsubokura, RIKEN) atRIKEN was presented with a Special Award. In addition, 9individuals were presented with the Achievement Award and 16
individuals and 4 groups were presented with the Encouragement
Award. Congratulations to one and all!
This year, we can expect commercial services of the fifthgeneration mobile communications system (5G) to expand andevolve. Hopes are high that ICT technologies including 5G
will help solve social problems and drive a quantum leap toward
Society 5.0. At the same time, there is a need for awareness-raising
activities about carbon neutrality as a global movement.
In relation to ITU, the World Telecommunication
Standardization Assembly (WTSA) is scheduled to be held inMarch 2022 and the World Telecommunication Development
Conference (WTDC) in June 2022. Then, in September andOctober, the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference will be held inRomania making 2022 a milestone year indeed. This is a truly
important meeting since Japan will be backing Seizo Onoe, Chief
Standardization Strategy Officer (CSSO) at NTT, as a candidatefor director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization
Sector (ITU-T). Based on our experiences to date, ITU-AJ willcontinue to provide flexible support for ITU and APT meetingsand events while collaborating with all concerned.
I would like to extend my appreciation for the support given
by many to ITU-AJ over many years. Going forward, we will
enhance our efforts in building a strong bridge between the ITU
on one side and the Japanese government and our supporting
members on the other.
In closing, I would like to pass on my sincere wishes toeveryone for a healthy and prosperous New Year.
■ Guests and Award Winners

New Breeze Winter 2022

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